CRASH OF A JAPANESE FIGHTER AIRCRAFTDESTRUCTION OFFIFTEEN FLYING BOATS
TWO B-17 FLYING FORTRESSESTWO B-24 LIBERATORS
TWO LOCKHEED HUDSONSTWO DC-3'S AND
A LOCKHEED LODESTAR
ON 3 MARCH 1942DURING A JAPANESE AIR RAID ON BROOME

On 3 March 1942, many refugees from Java and the
Celebes had started to arrive in Dornier flying boats at Broome in Western Australia.
They were then due to be evacuated to the south and east areas of Australia.

At 9:20am on 3 March 1942, nine pale grey Japanese
Mitsubishi A6M2 Zero fighter aircraft and a single Mitsubishi C5M2 command
reconnaissance and navigational aircraft of the
3rd Ku, arrived over Broome after leaving their base at Koepang in Timor.

Six of the
Zeros stayed low while the other three Zeros acted as "top cover". The pilots of
the "top cover" Zeros were Navy Lieutenant Zenziro Miyano, Sergeant Takashi Kurano
and Private Zempei Matsumoto. Miyano was the leader of the Japanese raiding party. He
later went on to claim 16 planes shot down before he was killed in action at Guadalcanal
on 16 June 1943.

A Zero, piloted by Warrant Officer
Osamu Kudo immediately shot down USAAF B-24A
Liberator, #40-2374, piloted by
Edson E. Kester just after it went over the beach after takeoff on its way to
Perth. It had climbed to somewhere between 200 to 400 feet. Japanese machine gun
bullets punctured the gas tank of the B-24. It
crashed into the sea about 10 miles from Broome (Map Reference 17.50 - 122.08),
about 7 miles off Cable Beach with 20 personnel on board. It was
carrying wounded from Java.

The aircraft broke in half. At least two personnel survived the initial
crash. They were Staff Sergeant Melvin Donoho and Staff Sergeant Willard J. Beatty. They
stayed together and swam towards the shore. They started swimming at about 10 am that day
and were still together later the next afternoon. They somehow became separated and Donoho
made it shore and struggled to the airfield where he was found naked, sun burnt and
severely exhausted.

Staff Sergeant Beatty, in a very bad state, was
found on the beach by a shore patrol. He was rushed to Perth but later died. For some strange
reason, his body cannot be accounted for. His date of death is shown as 3 July
1942 on the American Battle Monuments Commission web site (see below).

Those who died as a result of the loss of this
B-24 Liberator were as follows:-

Entered the Service from: Colorado
Died: July 3, 1942
(note the date is much later than 3 March 1942)
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery Manila, Philippines
Awards: Purple Heart

Photo:- via Dion Marinis

B-24A Liberator #40-2374

Photo:- via Dion Marinis

B-24A Liberator #40-2374 in the foreground at
Bolling Field, Washington in 1941

The Japanese aircraft then destroyed 15 flying
boats anchored in the shallow harbour.

They then strafed the airfield and destroyed two
B-17 Flying Fortresses, two RAAF Hudsons, another B-24 Liberator #40-2373, Lockheed Lodestar LT-918
of the Netherlands East Indies - Air Force, and a civilian Dutch Dakota DC-3 PK-ALO of KNILM (Netherlands East Indies KLM). One of the Lockheed Hudsons belonged to 14
Squadron RAAF, which was based at Pearce in Western
Australia.

Lockheed Hudson A16-119 was strafed
and bombed on the ground at Broome airfield whilst waiting to take-off behind a
B-24 Liberator. A16-119 had been on a flight from Onslow to Broome looking for
missing C-53 #41-20066 VH
CDW which had made a forced landing at Vansittart Bay on 26 February 1942.
Wing Commander Ivor James Lightfoot (RAAF Service No. 50), the Commanding
Officer of 14 Squadron RAAF was the pilot, with F/Sgt Harry Simpson (RAAF) as the
radio operator and Sergeant Owens as another crew member with passenger, Petty
Officer 1st Class Hartin, a US Navy Aerial Photographer. Wing Commander
Lightfoot realised he had left his charts in the briefing room and whilst
walking back to retrieve them his aircraft was attacked. The other crew members
and passenger exited the aircraft and ran for cover and fired their hand guns at
the swooping Zeros. The Hudson which was fully loaded with bombs and fuel
exploded into a ball of fire. Parts of the burnt out wreckage of Hudson A16-119
were still located in the bush a short walk from the Broome Airfield in January
1979.

The burnt-out wreck of RAAF Lockheed Hudson A16-119, was still in the bush
within walking distancefrom
Broome Airport terminal building in January 1979

When the raid was finished, numerous ground
installations and motor vehicles were left burning or badly damaged.

A Japanese Zero, piloted by Warrant
Officer Osamu Kudo, was shot down on
the beach at the end of the raid by a Dutch pilot, F/Lt Gus "Wild
Bill" Winckel, using a 7.9 mm machine gun he had taken from his LT9-18
Lockheed Lodestar. He stood behind a sawn-off tree and fired the machine gun
from the hip. He sustained severe burns to his left forearm, which he used to
support the barrel of the machine gun.

A Dutch Dakota DC-3
PK-AFV, "Pelikaan",
of the KNILM (Netherlands East Indies KLM) was also shot down at Carnot Bay, 60
miles from Broome while the
three "top cover" Zeros were returning along the coast towards Timor. The Dakota
was on an evacuation flight from Bandung, in Java to Australia. A lot of mystery surrounds
the crash of this Dakota. It carried a box of diamonds worth £300,000.
They could not be found after the crash. The other DC-3, PK-ALO, which had landed in
Broome, also had a similar package, in the hands of a courier of the NEI Government,
stamped full with lacquer seals. As indicated above, PK-ALO was strafed by the Japanese
Zero´s and burned completely. The package was also lost.

Approximately 70 civilians and Allied servicemen
were dead or missing in this bombing raid at Broome.

As the Dornier Flying Boats were loaded up with
evacuees (most of them women and children) from Java, there were at least 70 people killed
by the Zero´s and whilst swimming through burning oil. Only 25 persons were buried at the
cemetery at Karrakatta, on Railway Road, Nedlands near Perth.

In the R&SL WA Journal "The Listening
Post" Spring 2000 they are asking for information on the above aircraft shot down by
the Japs seven miles offshore from Broome 3/3/42. Only two of the crew were found,
Sgt.Willard J Beatty and Sgt. Melvin Donoho. Sgt Beatty was recovered unconscious 5/3/42,
flown to Perth where he died without regaining consciousness. His body was then lost, his
relatives are trying to find it. It may have been shipped to the US, or perhaps buried in
Aust.- no one knows, as yet.

His brother, Glenn Beatty, is desperate for any
information, recollections of those who knew his brother, photos or anything, but
particularly where he was buried.

Do you have this incident on your pages? Do you
have any information or source of information, or contacts. Both the Broome Historical
Society and Broome R&SL would like to have any further info as well. I can pass it on.

My uncle Staff Sergeant Hubert McDonald was
killed during a Japanese raid on Broome either on March 2, 1942 or March 3, 1942. He was
the original bombardier on the B-17 "Suzy Q". When my grandmother died I
received his citation and some sketchy information. The "Suzy Q" was assigned to
the 19th Bomb Group, 93rd Squadron. Information about the two
raid, information you may have about my uncle's death, pictures of the Suzy-Q or anything
would be greatly appreciated.

Again Thank YouJeff BramlettCanton, Georgia, USA

NOTE:- Bob Livingstone's
excellent book states on page 19 that the two B-17E's were from the 7th Bomb
Group.

My uncle was the person who was honoured by the Queen of Holland when Broome was attacked. Uncle Charlie saved a Dutch
lady and two children while the Japanese were shooting the flying boats in the harbour. In 1993 Uncle was asked by the Dutch
government to attend a gathering in Broome commemorate the anniversary of the bombing of Broome. I can not find anything about
him in any of the literature. Can you help me.

Warren

Jon Davison is part an Australian film company,
which is looking at a series of 13 TV documentaries with a working title called ‘The Air crash Detectives’.
They have carried out diving expeditions at Broome, locating the lost PBY
Catalinas, Empires and Dorniers etc for another film.